Gathering Evidence
by Imagination-Parade
Summary: That definitely hadn’t been the answer Booth had been expecting. He looked at her with his mouth slightly agape in shock as a sarcastic voice appeared in his head saying, “That’ll teach you to ask her questions.” Booth


_Hi, everyone!! This was just a silly little idea that I found funny that wouldn't leave me alone after the last episode aired. It's set the day after "Skull in the Sculpture" ended. I think (hope!) that I kept them in character, but it's _not _meant to be taken very seriously, so keep that in mind when you're reading, and I think you'll like it._

_As always, Bones isn't mine, and I'll love you if you leave a review!_

* * *

"Hey, Booth," Brennan said, breaking the silence as they rode to a crime scene.

"Yeah, Bones?" he replied, glancing over at her.

"Angela told me what you said to her…about her and Roxie, and I guess I just wanted to thank you for your acceptance of them, seeing as how she's my best friend," Brennan said.

"What exactly did she tell you?" Booth immediately asked, wanting to know whether his partner knew about his aunt or not.

"That it didn't freak you out," Brennan said. "Honestly, I'm surprised. I thought it would bother you."

"Why? Because I'm Catholic?" Booth immediately asked.

"Well…yes," Brennan said. "Doesn't the Bible say homosexual relationships are wrong? Isn't that why most religious institutions have a problem with granting marriage rights to same-sex couples?"

"Technically, but the Bible also says that we're all God's children, and he loves us all equally, so there's a bit of a mixed message there, at least in my opinion," Booth said. "Bottom line is not all Catholics are against same-sex relationships, Bones."

"I never assumed that," Brennan quickly said. "I guess I just always imagined that you'd be on the more conservative side."

"Hey," Booth said. "Love is love. It shouldn't matter who it's with. If Angela and Roxie love each other, who am I to discriminate against that?"

Brennan was silent for a moment as she thought about what he had just said. "I'm very impressed," she finally said.

"Thank you," Booth said. "Though, to be fair, I will admit that there was a time in my life when I would've looked down on it."

"Really?" Brennan asked. Booth nodded. "So what changed your mind?"

"I had a personal experience that changed my way of thinking," he said, not really wanting to go into the same details he had told Angela.

Brennan immediately laughed in disbelief. "You've had a male lover?" she exclaimed.

"What? Bones! No! My aunt!" Booth exclaimed. "My favorite aunt had a girlfriend!"

"Oh," Brennan replied, highly amused by his reaction. "My mistake."

"Anyway, they really loved each other, and I could see that, so I decided that their gender really shouldn't matter," Booth explained.

"I'm glad you think that way," Brennan said. "I think Angela was comforted by your acceptance of Roxie."

"So what about you, Bones?" he asked, deciding to have a little bit of fun of his own.

"What about me?" she asked, not understanding his question.

"Have you ever had a sexual experience with another woman?" he asked.

He expected an immediate denial, a reaction similar to the one he had produced when she had asked if he had ever had a male lover, and when it didn't come, he glanced over at her, a skeptical glance on his face. She appeared to be strongly contemplating her answer.

"Bones…" he said cautiously.

"Sort of," she finally answered.

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"Well, I've never actually had sex with another woman, but I have kissed one, and I was trying to decide if you would classify that as a sexual experience or not before I answered you," she explained.

That definitely hadn't been the answer Booth had been expecting. He looked at her with his mouth slightly agape in shock, as a sarcastic voice appeared in his head saying, "_That'll teach you to ask her questions_."

"Really?" Booth asked.

"Close your mouth; you're gonna catch mosquitoes," Brennan teased.

"Flies, Bones. I'm gonna catch _flies_," Booth corrected.

"Oh," Brennan said, pouting that she hadn't gotten it right.

"Anyway…back to the subject at hand here. You've kissed another woman?" Booth asked.

"Yes," Brennan replied.

"Who…who was it?" Booth said, suddenly wanting details.

"Angela," Brennan shrugged as if she were throwing out the name of someone Booth had never heard of before.

"Angela?" Booth exclaimed. "You and…you and _Angela_?"

"I wouldn't exactly put our names together as if we were a couple or anything. It was nothing," Brennan said. "It was one kiss, two at most."

"Still…you and Angela _kissed_?" Booth exclaimed.

"Booth! That light is _red_!" Brennan shrieked as she realized Booth was well on his way to hurtling straight through an intersection.

Brennan braced herself as Booth quickly slammed on the brakes.

"Sorry," Booth muttered.

"Are you okay?" Brennan asked.

"Yeah, I'm…good."

"Do you have a problem with what I just told you?" Brennan asked.

"No, definitely…no problem here," Booth said.

"Ohhh…" she said with realization. "Are you aroused by the thought of Angela and me kissing?"

"That's…wildly inappropriate, Bones."

"It's okay if you find that thought appealing. Many men find the idea of two females together to be arousing," Brennan said. "You're probably picturing us together, right?"

"No! I'm not doing that," Booth quickly said.

"Now I've made you uncomfortable," Brennan said.

"No, I'm not uncomfortable. I was just wondering how that…happened," Booth said as the stoplight turned green.

"Oh, why didn't you just say that?" Brennan said. "I don't mind telling you the story, but I'm not sure I should tell it to you while you're driving."

"It's fine, Bones. Go ahead," Booth said.

"Are you sure? I could drive while I talk. I'm an excellent driver," Brennan said.

"Bones…just tell me the story," Booth said.

"Okay. Well, Angela and I shared an apartment when we first started at the Jeffersonian. Neither of us had money then, and we had been best friends for a while, so we just decided that the sensible thing would be for us to live together. One night, we were sitting on the couch, talking about ex-lovers, and she briefly mentioned Roxie," Brennan said. "I was initially pretty surprised because in all the time I had spent with Angela, she had always seemed to love men and had never shown any indications of being interested in another woman when we would go out, but naturally, since I had never had the experience of being with another woman, I was curious."

"So you just kissed her out of nowhere to satisfy your curiosity?" Booth asked.

"No, of course not," Brennan said. "I asked questions. At one point, I asked her if kissing a woman was different than kissing a man. Logically, the act is exactly the same, but I wanted to know if the feelings involved, both physically and emotionally, were different."

"So she just kissed you?" Booth asked.

"I'm getting there, if you would be patient," Brennan sighed.

"Sorry! Continue," Booth said.

"Anyway, Angela told me that it _did_ feel different, but she wasn't able to properly word a comprehensible explanation for _why_ it felt so different, and we were both getting frustrated with her inability to explain it to me and my failure to understand what she was trying to tell me, so we concluded that the best way for her to explain was to just show me. So since you're so interested in who kissed whom, I guess you could say we kissed each other," Brennan explained. She began to study his face, looking for an insight into what he was thinking at that moment. "So you see? It was just one, meaningless kiss."

"Yeah…so…was it different? Kissing another girl?" Booth asked.

"Yes," Brennan said. "Angela was right."

"How was it different?" Booth asked. He couldn't believe he was having this conversation with her. She was silent again, and her thinking look once again appeared on her face. Booth patiently waited for an answer.

"I now understand why she had so much trouble trying to explain it to me. It seems I'm having trouble finding the right way to word an explanation for you," Brennan said. "She had extraordinarily soft lips. Plus, she was gentler than most guys tend to be, and…I don't know. It was more than just that, but I don't know how to vocalize it."

Booth sucked in a deep breath as images of his gorgeous partner kissing her equally gorgeous best friend finally began to fill his mind. "Okay," he chuckled. "_Now_ I'm picturing you and Angela together."

"Oh," Brennan said. "Sorry. Though, as you can see, it was nothing more than a way for me to gather evidence so I could properly form my own conclusion on the subject. It was merely a scientific experiment."

"You've got the experiment part right," Booth muttered.

"What was that?" Brennan asked.

"Nothing," Booth said.

"Should I not have told you?" Brennan said. "I know you asked, but I don't think I'm always very good at knowing how discreet to be."

"You answered it fine. You don't need to…apologize for…I think we need to talk about something else now," he admitted.

Brennan simply chuckled in response and flipped on the radio, leaning back into her seat.

* * *

That evening, Angela appeared in the doorway of Brennan's office. Brennan was working on her computer, and she turned around in her chair when Angela knocked.

"Hey, Bren," Angela said. "Got a minute?"

"Sure," Brennan said as she and Angela made their way to her couch.

"I know we're working on a new case today, but do you think I could have the night off?" Angela asked.

"Why?" Brennan asked.

Angela smiled an almost-shy smile. "I made plans…with Roxie."

"Are you guys back together?" Brennan asked.

"Not officially, not yet, but I think we're headed in that direction," Angela nodded. "She kissed me when I went to see her last night."

"That's great, Ange," Brennan said sincerely. "I don't have a problem with you leaving since we probably won't be ready for a facial reconstruction until morning, but shouldn't you be asking Cam and not me?"

The shy smile returned to Angela's face. "Well, I would, but I'm not sure how Cam feels about the kind of relationship Roxie and I have."

"I really don't think she'll have a problem with it," Brennan said. "Besides, I think if you were able to get Booth's approval, you don't need to worry about any of us…except maybe Hodgins," she added with a slight laugh.

"Bones!" Booth called. He was outside of her office, heading for the doorway. "It's six-thirty. Put down the bones, it's diner ti…hi, Angela."

"Hi," Angela replied.

"I didn't know you were with Bones, I mean, _in here_ with Bones," Booth said, quickly correctly what he had said.

"Yeah, she was just asking me about leaving early to go on a date," Brennan said.

"With _you_?" Booth asked, a hint of panic in his voice.

"With _Roxie_," Angela said with a slight laugh. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Booth said instantly. "I'm fine. So…Bones, I'm going to the diner for dinner. Feel free to join me, and uh…I'll see you soon."

Angela waited until he was around the corner before bursting out into laughter. Brennan quickly joined in Angela's giggles.

"Sweetie…what the hell was that?" Angela asked.

"He may be a bit awkward around us for a few days," Brennan said, smiling.

"Why?" Angela asked.

"Just a minute ago, he was uncomfortable with us being in the room together because he was visualizing us kissing," Brennan said.

"You and me kissing? Why would he do that?" Angela asked.

"He asked me earlier if I had ever been with a woman, so I told him about our kiss."

Angela chuckled. "How much did you tell him?"

"Not much. I didn't go too far into details. You told me about Roxie. I had questions. We kissed. That's about all," Brennan said.

"And it totally freaked him out?" Angela guessed.

"I actually think he found it more arousing than weird," Brennan laughed. "You know how he gets with sex stuff, though, so I'm not entirely sure."

"You did tell him that it stopped at kissing and we didn't actually have _sex_, right?" Angela asked.

"Of course," Brennan said. "I told him that it was never really sexual in nature, but instead, it was just one kiss done merely as a way to gather evidence and reach a conclusion."

Angela quietly chuckled to herself for a few moments before saying, "_Wow_…I've never even told Hodgins about that."

"That's probably for the best," Brennan said. "Did he know about Roxie?"

"Uhh…yeah," Angela sighed. "The PI we hired to find my husband took care of dropping _that_ bombshell on him. That was an interesting conversation." Brennan and Angela chuckled about that for a few moments until Angela finally noticed the time. "I have to meet Roxie in an hour. I guess I'm going to talk to Cam."

"Good luck!" Brennan called as Angela headed towards the door. "And have fun on your date."

"Thanks," Angela said, pausing in her doorway. "You know, I'm really glad that you…and Booth…well, that everyone seems so okay with me and Roxie."

"You can love whoever you want, Ange," Brennan said. "As long as you're happy, I don't care who it is. You can't get rid of me that easily."

"I'll remember that," Angela said, smiling. "Love your guts, sweetie."

Brennan returned her smile. "Have a good night."

"You, too. Go de-traumatize Booth," Angela said, laughing again. "Poor guy…and I strongly encourage the use of any physical methods to prove to him you're not a lesbian."

"Angela!" Brennan exclaimed.

"What? I'm sure it would be more than appreciated," she said in a suggestive tone of voice.

"Goodnight!" Brennan sighed.

Angela chuckled and turned to leave. "Night, sweetie!"

* * *

_Did anyone else think Booth was going to have a problem with Angela/Roxie? I thought for sure that storyline would lead to a Booth & Brennan bickering match about same-sex relationships, so I was pleasantly surprised by that scene between Booth and Angela in his car. _

_Thanks for reading, and please leave a review if you've got some time!_


End file.
